On a tense Anzac Day, the MCG fell silent. Then the Welcome to Country began

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The agony and the ecstasy. The trash and the treasure. Australia at its worst, and then at its best.

You have to picture the scene last Friday – Anzac Day, at the Shrine of Remembrance. Stillness falls upon the tightly gathered crowd. Heads are bowed, backs are straight, medals catch the first gleams of dawn. A sacred time in our national life. The most sacred time, as we remember our fallen.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old ...

The Welcome to Country is delivered by Bunurong elder, Uncle Mark Brown, when . . .

When, suddenly, boos ring out. No, really. Of all the times, to this man, of all people, a former member of the Australian Defence Force himself, a scattered few are actually choosing this time to boo? Oh, the disgrace of it.

The question is, how would Australia react?

And most particularly, how would Melbourne react that afternoon at the MCG, for the annual Anzac Day clash between Collingwood and Essendon? The episode at the Shrine was the talk of the town, the talk of the nation, as there had been similar disgraceful episodes of booing around the country – including in Sydney, where, happily one of the alleged perpetrators was arrested.

For there was, of course, going to be a Welcome to Country at the MCG, too, before the match. Would the AFL crowd – some of whom had, after all, disgraced themselves a decade and a bit ago, by booing and haranguing Adam Goodes out of the game – start booing here, too?

And this game is not just another game. This game is a great moment in Australian life, at a place where 100,000 people are so respectful during the minute’s silence that, as I have written before, you can hear the flags flapping in the middle, as they are lowered to half-mast.

The moment comes. Uncle Colin Hunter Jr, a Wurundjeri man and an ADF veteran, steps forward.

“I would like to start by saying that this afternoon we are gathering on the lands of my ancestors, the Wurundjeri people,” he begins.

Cheers! Applause! The mob stands!

Uncle Colin pauses. Rapturous. He is being totally supported.

“Today I want to make a special acknowledgement,” he continues. “I want to acknowledge the men and women who have served this country, and I want to pay my deepest respects to them.”

As he goes on, the MCG crowd continues to cheer and offer full-throated support. And even in the Members Stand, there was strong acclaim, as noted by journalist Rohan Connolly on social media platform X:

“Just FYI, I sat........

© Brisbane Times